Day 6- 25 February 2015

   We woke up at 9:00 am from the Basel Hostel and spent some time packing, today we would be going to Zurich to explore the city. We spent an hour getting our stuff packed up and spent another hour eating the complimentary breakfast. We walked over to the bus station, the bus took us to the train station which took about 10 minutes to get there. From there we took a Train ride to Zurich which took us around and hour and a half. We arrived in Zurich at around 1 PM, when we got there we immediately went to the local Zurich Hostel. We spent an hour and a hald unpacking and putting our stuff away. We took a bus to get to Uetliberg, which took us about half an hour.

History
   From there we went to the service desk that was near Uetliberg, which is a giant mountain located in Zurich. In order to go to the mountain you had to buy cards there which we around $30 a piece for each of us. The mountain was amazing, it was a 2 hour walk and we also spent 2 hours going down the sled slopes. The mountain is covered in snow during the winter, so we came at a perfect time. 

   We got done around 6 pm, from there we went back to the hostel which took another 30 minutes. We went down to the streets of Zurich and found a nice restaurant to go eat dinner. We ate until 8 PM. We explored the local streets around Zurich because we were tired from the busy day, we went to a few local shops and got some deserts from the city. We headed back to the Hostel at 9 PM to go to bed.

Day 5 - 24 February 2015

   We were in no rush today, so we decided to sleep in till 10 am and get a late start on the day instead. We headed downstairs at 11 am and ate some complimentary breakfast. After eating breakfast at the hostel, we headed out to continue exploring Basel and the festival at 12 pm. The second day of the carnival is one of the more relaxed days, so it isn't so hectic as the first and last days. To kill some time before the afternoon festivities, we wandered around the city, exploring the city and exposing ourselves to their culture. At 1 pm, we headed into a local cafe and found some food to eat. After grabbing lunch, we explored some more and before we knew it, it was already the evening and we watched as the Guggemuusige, or masked musicians, filled the streets of the city with their improvised cacophony. They were decedent in their costumes, and although their music was improvised, they came together to form a beautiful harmony with all their instruments. 

Indigenous Meal:

   For a late dinner at 9 PM, after watching and following the parade of the Guggemuusige, we went to a local restaurant and ordered a cheese and chocolate platter to share. The Swiss are well known for their cheese and chocolate, so decided to take this opportunity to try it for ourselves. The sample plate consisted of different types of cheeses and chocolates, all of varying consistency, texture and taste.  The food was exquisite, and we were able to see why they are so well known for their chocolate and cheese. After our spectacular supper, we headed back to our hostel at 11 pm to retire for the night. 

 

Day 4 - 23 February 2015

Holiday/Festival

Schedule

   Today we got to explorer the many wonderful sights of the Fasnacht Spring Carnival on the opening day! The weather was sunny with no chance of rain, but the chilly thirty-seven degree weather with a slight wind chill caused us to all dress warm. The carnival was so exciting we did nothing but enjoy the sights and sounds of it for the entire time we were out of the hotel after eating breakfast at 8:30 a.m. to arriving back at the hotel for dinner at 6:30 p.m. Before we went to the carnival, we purchased carnival badges, and then headed out to the carnival.

Carnival

   While we were at the Carnival on the first day, we saw people with masks with extreme exaggerations of emotions, like the Joker from Batman. People dressed up like clowns and played instruments such as trumpets trying to make the streets of Basel as festive as possible. We followed the moving carnival through the streets of Basel and danced along to the wild beats of a festive band up to the center of the city. Large crowds of people moved with us as we blasted the day away with the most colorful and wide smiling clowns in the world. At 2:30 p.m., we entered a village with some restaurants and we grabbed some cheese and milk as a snack until we could arrive back at the hotel at 6:30 p.m. As we moved from each town and province in Basel, the spirit of the carnival never dimmed as live bands played music through their over-emphasized costumes. 

   At 4:00 p.m., we headed back to the hotel to get dinner and retire for the day in our rooms. For dinner, we ate chicken accompanied with rice and steamed carrots. We returned to our rooms and went to bed at 8:30 p.m.

Day 3 - 22 February 2015

Science and Technology

Schedule

   After waking up in the morning at 8:00 am, we packed up, ate breakfast, dressed accordingly to the thirty-six degree (Fahrenheit) weather, prepared for a slight chance of rain, and checked out of City Hostel Geneva by noon. After checking out of the hotel, we used a bus pass and took a bus to the train station and arrived at 2:00 pm. After arriving to the train station, we used previously purchased train tickets and took the train from Geneva to Basel and arrived at 4:30 pm. After that, we got a bus pass and took the bus to Youthhostel, and arrived at 5:15 pm. After checking in and unpacking, we ate dinner at 5:45 pm. For dinner, we ate grapes dipped in chocolate and swiss cheese. We finished dinner at 6:45 pm. Then, we got a bus pass and took the bus to the Congress Center.

Congress Center

   The Congress Center had several examples of modern technology including audio-visual media technology, communication technology, lighting technology, sound technology, and information technology. We were lucky enough to be able to get to test the recording cameras while we were there and took turns recording each other saying a few lines from Romeo and Juliet We stayed until 8:15 pm. Finally, we took the bus back to the hotel and went to bed at 10:00 pm.

Day 2 - 21 February 2015

   Around 7:40 am our plane landed in Geneva and we had to wait to go through Customs, it took all 5 of us roughly 15 minutes to find them, 15 minutes waiting in line and 30 minutes for all of us to get through them. It was 9:00 when we got out, from there we waited for a local bus and got on. The bus took us from Geneva Aeroport to City Hostel Geneva, we checked in at 9:15 AM, from there it took us about 10 minutes to get set up and shown to our room, we decided to stay in the Hostel for about an hour and a half to get ready, shower and set up the room. 

History
   Around 11 AM we hopped on the bus to get to Chillon Castle, the bus ride was around an hour and a half, we ended up getting at the castle around 1:30.  The castle has many different underground passages, Courtyards, Great Halls and many more things that the Castle had to offer. We also explored the Castle's Chapel, Chamber and the defenses. It was a really cool experience to see such a huge building. We hadn't even noticed that 3 hours had went by and we decided it was time to go get something to eat. At approximately 4:30 PM we headed down the street from the castle and found some place to eat, we stayed at the place for an hour and a half and once we were all finished and payed for our meals we headed towards Lake Geneva around 6 PM. Since Lake Geneva is close to Chillon Castle we were able to walk there and not worry about any transportation. We spent 45 or so minutes at the lake looking around and taking in the nice views.

   We headed back to the bus station and got there at 7 pm. We took the 1 1/2 hour bus ride back to our hotel getting there at 9:30 pm.  From there we went to sleep and got rested before our next big day tomorrow.

Day 1 - 20 February 2015

   After we had all finished packing and getting ready for our trip we all drove to the airport together. It was 1 pm when we got to the airport and we sat around and waited for our plane to be called. The airport was pretty nice and the people working there were caring and helpful. At 2 PM, the announcer said that our plane was ready to be boarded. We went up and showed them our tickets and began boarding the plane. After we had gotten into our seats, we had to wait around 45 minutes for the plane to start departing. When we had gotten off the ground we could see the ground under us, we were pretty high up and it was a nice view. The plane ride took about an hour and a half, from there we had to get out and get something to eat because the we were pretty hungry at this point. 

   It was around 5:30 PM when we got to DC, so we had around 2 hours to get something to eat. We found a food court located near us and we were able to spend some time relaxing and eating. We headed back to the airport and we heard the announcer tell us that it was time to board the plane. We got our stuff and boarded the plane, it took us about 15 minutes to get through and get on. We had to wait for the plane to depart again which took about the same time as last time. The plane started lifting the air about 9:30 PM and we got ready for a red eye. The plane was a Boeing 767-300, which is a pretty decently sized plane and had many of seats available. We were able to rest up on the flight, which was a total of eight hours and five minutes; way too long to sit still, but it would all be worth it once we started our journey around the country.  

Itinerary

Day 1 2/20	Get to airport at 1 pm. Fly RDU-GVA Round trip $1013. RDU 2:17p-IAD 3:26 (1h 09m), 2h 04m layover, get something to eat, IAD 5:30p-GVA 7:35a (8h 05m)
Day 2 2/21	Arrive in Geneva 7:35 am, check into City Hostel Geneva at 9:15 am, leave at 11 am, get there at 12:30 pm, visit Chillon Castle finish at 3:30 pm,eat and start to explore Lake Geneva at 5 pm, leave at 6 pm, arrive at hotel at 7:30 pm and go to bed.
Day 3 2/22	Check out of Hostel 12 pm, arrive at train station  2 pm, Go to Basel (by train)arrive in Basel at 4:30 pm, check in to Youthhostel Basel at 5:15 pm, dinner 5:45 pm, finish and leave at 6:45 pm, Visit Congress Center leave at 8:15 pm. Go to bed at 10:00 pm.
Day 4 2/23	Eat breakfast at 8:30 am, Fasnacht Spring Carnival (in Basel) begins (we need events during the carnival here) leave for hotel at 4 pm arrive at 6:30 pm and eat dinner, go to bed at 8:30 pm.
Day 5 2/24	Woke up at 10 AM, Ate Breakfast in the Hostel from 11 am- 12 pm, Checked out the streets of the Festival till 1 PM, 1 PM- Ate at a local cafe, at about 3 PM, when we were done with lunch, the Guggemuusige came out and we watched them and explored untill 9 PM. 9 PM- Indigenous Meal ( Swiss Cheese and Chocolate Platter)Went back to the Hostel at 11 PM.
Day 6 2/25	Carnival ends. Wake up at 9 am, for Basel Hostel, pack and eat breakfast then leave for Zurich at 11 am, Go to Zurich arrive at 1 pm and go to Zurich Hostel, leave for Uetliberg at 2:30 pm, arrive at 3 pm, visit Uetliberg mountains leave Uetliberg mountains at 7 pm and go to Zurich Hostel, arrive at hostel at 7:30 pm and go out to eat, finish eating at 9 pm and go to bed at 10 pm.
Day 7 2/26	leave for Mala Gorge at 8:30 pm, eat breakfast at a local cafe till 10 AM, Visit Via Mala Gorge at 11 AM, visit the Clock Tower (Zytglogge) at 3 PM, visit Rhine Falls at 7 PM and go to bed at 10 pm.
Day 8 2/27	Wake up at 6:30 am, then eat breakfast and pack bags, Check out of hostel and go to Bern arrive at 2 pm and check into Bern Backpackers Hotel & Hostel Glocke, explore city, game starts at 7 pm, Hockey Game ends at 9:30 pm, get back to hotel at 10:30 pm.
Day 9 2/28	Wake up at 9:30 am, then eat breakfast, finish and leave at 10:30 am, arrive at 12:30 pm, start tour at 3 pm in Alestsch Arena, finish tour at 6 pm and head back to hotel in Bern, arrive at 8 pm and have dinner, then go to bed at 9:30 pm.
Day 10 3/1	Wake up and leave at 10:30 pm then eat breakfast, arrive at 11 am, start at 12:45 pm for the Foxtrail in Lucerne, finish at 6:45 pm, eat dinner at 7 pm, leave at 8:30 pm, arrive in Zurich at 9 pm and go to bed.
Day 11 3/2	Wake up at 8 am, eat breakfast at 8:30 am, take train to Geneva at 10 am, arrive there at 1 pm and go to next hotel, 2 pm eat lunch, head back after sight seeing at 6 pm, get dinner at 6:30 pm, head back to hotel at 8:30 pm and pack and go to bed.
Day 12 3/3	Wake up at 8 am, and continue packing, check out of hotel at 10:30 am, get to airport at 11 am, board plane at 11:40 am, Fly GVA-RDU, GVA 11:50a-YUL 2:10pm  (8h 20m),, there we eat and walk around, get on same plane 1h 50m, YUL 4:00-YZZ 5:32 (1h 32m), 3h 48m layover, there we eat and walk around, get on plane YYZ 9:20-RDU 11:03 (1h 43m) get home around 12 am.

1.00 US Dollar=.96 Swiss Franc
Item	Cost (USD)
Plane tickets (round trip)	$1,013.00
Swiss Pass (covers all transportation costs some museam entrance fees)	$305.97
City Hostel Geneva	$103.00
Youthhostel Basel	$135.00
City Backpacker - Hostel Biber	$110.18
Chillon Castle	$12.85
Bern Backpackers Hotel&Hostel Glocke	$152.94
Hockey Tickets	$24.87
Foxtrail	$43
Uetliberg Mt.	$31
Zytglogge	$7.78
Novotel Geneve Aeroport	$108.00
Spending Money	$500.00
Food Money	$500.00
Total	$2,547.24